Inmarsat loses money from withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan

Inmarsat, the British satellite telecommunications company that provides global mobile services, is losing £1 million a month in revenues due to the gradual withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan.

During the height of the war, Inmarsat made in excess of £35 million from Afghanistan, but the London-based company, which provides telephony and data services to ships, aircraft, the military, range of governments, aid agencies and media in remote regions or where there is no reliable terrestrial network, said that revenue from military operations in Afghanistan had fallen by about £10 million to £15 million a year.

''We are down about £1 million a month," said Andrew Sukawaty, Inmarsat's chairman and CEO, "Afghanistan represents £20 million-£30 million of revenues and some piece of it just went away."

Sukawaty said decline of revenues began after the International Security Assistance Force starting withdrawing some of its 130,000-strong troops and also due to a decline in active operations in the country.

"When troops sit there we get less business, when they move around, we get more business," he said.

The US is also set to pull out about 10,000 of its troops by the end of 2011, followed by another 23,000 by May 2012. The US government accounts for 12 per cent of Inmarsat's revenue.